30 April 2015

It's Denver National Quilt Festival time of year again, and this year, I'm doing it up big, even though I didn't enter a quilt.

Portrait of a Peacock by Laura Cunningham, 2014 DNQF
Best Use of Sulky Thread, Hoffman Challenge

A very dear friend and quilter will be joining me for five whole days of drooling over exhibition quilts without getting any of our spit on the masterpieces, trying to keep our money in our pockets when we cruise the DNQF marketplace, watching quilting tutorials and, best of all, working on WIPs together for the first time since 2003!

Nothing like a friend who goes way back and shares the same fiber addictions!

What she doesn't know yet is I picked up a few bright sale fabrics and precuts for us to play with when we get bored with existing projects. She has a young granddaughter for whom she loves to sew, and I may get my first "grandchild" next month. (Fingers crossed, hoping for the best!)

(When your only claim to parenthood is fostering and/or adopting, having grandchildren is tricky, tricky, tricky.)

Piecemaker's 2003 Times and Seasons by Jan Zimmerman, Best Interpretation of Theme, 2014 DNQF

I don't know if I'm being realistic, but I'd sure like to finish - completely finish - at least three quilts while my friend is here. If I can't get enough sewing time during her visit (because we'll be sharing my machine), maybe I can finish up the second charity snowflake pdf booklet I've been working on since late in January...

I've wanted to host a quilting retreat with my closest friends and family ever since I discovered Colorado's ski huts. I thought it would be so fun for them to experience the San Juan mountains I love from a secluded cabin way up near the top of Cinnamon or Engineer Pass.

I always thought if I ever strike it rich, I could buy airline tickets for all my BFFs, then buy a couple of snowmobiles with warming handlebars and shuttle my guests up to our own private little paradise where there would be no phones, no sales people, no television... just sewing machines and beautiful views for a whole week!

Of course, that's not where my friend and I will be going; when not at the festival, we'll be in the comfort of my very own home sweet home with whatever wildlife decides to check out my garden. But the dream lingers on.

Can you imagine quilting with a view like this?

Or this?

Or this?

Or this?

Aaaaaaaah... makes me want to be back out in the wilderness!

Meanwhile, we learned the newest member of the extended family, for whom I created this...

... is going to be Joel Keith. Not a girl. So I made this...

The pastel quilt initially was meant to be for Joel, but I didn't know when I made it Joel would be a Joel and not a Joelle... Now, that pastel top seems just a wee bit feminine. I had plenty of blues, that being my favorite color anyway, so I whipped up another quilt top. Literally in one night. I wish the quilting could go as fast!

I plan to free-motion quilt motifs into each square, just as I had planned for the pastel quilt. So I'll still get plenty of practice, and I'm sure another girl will join the extended family eventually. The pastel quilt top will still get finished and gifted.

Dusty words lying under carpets,seldom heard, well must you keep your secretslocked inside, hidden deep from view?You can talk to me... (Stevie Nicks)

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Greg and Susan long for a child. Abused and abandoned five-year-old Gene needs a new family, The match of family to child seems perfect, but the past refuses to let go. Find out what it takes to rebuild a broken family and to heal damaged trust.

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